Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Soul Blossom raggy quilt is done.

Here's a bit of a squizz at oldest fishes raggy quilt that was finished recently. I started out with a soul blossom designer roll (like a jelly roll) and pondered what to do with it.

Oldest fish has now decided to be a bit girly and is getting a bit obsessed with all things pretty and pink.

Her mother is not a big fan of pink and so we reached a compromise. The walls of her room will NOT be painted pink or any shade resembling pink. She can however have some accessories and bits and pieces in her room to increase the pinkness of it.

So the idea for a bed cover was born. The roll was chopped up into pieces that would be made into a very simple log cabin block. (I threw some other fabrics in to make up the number of blocks we needed). In between the log cabin blocks we put a square of printed fabric and after laying it all out and moving blocks around for a while we had a plan.

We then had to cut out the backing squares before sewing them all together. Being rather slack the raggy style of quilt rather suited this project as it was quick and easy. For anyone who hasn't made a raggy quilt before, it's pretty easy. Instead of piecing the top together first then basting your layers of wadding and backing together and quilting the whole lot, you make up your top in sections (blocks) and cut the backing blocks out the same so you can sew them as one layer, wrong sides together. The seams are left exposed on the top of the quilt as you sew one set of top/backing to the next set until you have sewn a row together. The rows are then sewn together and voila! You have a quilt! (you can put a square of wadding in between the layers if you like but since we rarely turn the fans off here it's easier to leave it out as it is not needed for warmth)

After the blocks were all sewn together I went round the edges of the quilt with a 1/2 inch seam to finish them off and stop them fraying too much. Then comes the fun bit.....

You have to get out your sharp scissors and make little snips in the seams all over the quilt and around the edges so that when it is washed (and preferably tumble dried) they look all raggy and fluffy. This takes a while and you will get sore hands if you try and do it all at once so pace yourself!

We don't have a drier so I just washed it and shook it a bit before hanging in the sun. You will get bits of thread in your machine filter (make sure you clean it out afterwards) and all over the floor if you flick it in the house so don't do that ;)

I made the sides wider than normal as I wanted it to nearly touch the floor and hide the spare mattress under her bed.

She likes it and the fact that it is pinky looking and pretty. I like it cause it was easy to make and means I don't have to look at pink walls.
She got the bunting made for her birthday and now it hangs in her room to add a bit more pink and some green to the mix.
Will show you a close up in the next post.

So we have used up all the soul blossoms roll now and oldest fish has a new quilt for herself.

Oh and she now has a hot pink cast on her arm. And because it's made from fibreglass she can get it wet! How awesome is that! Bath time is so much easier now.

She did really well at her hospital visit and had to get 2 xrays to check the cast was positioned correctly, walk to and from the different departments about 5 times (they are a looong way from each other) and have her old cast removed (no saw, just snippers) and the new one put on.

I am very proud of how good she was with all the things that we had to do and waiting at each department without complaining or whining, and most of all how good she was getting her cast redone. (I think the thought of a pink one helped).

She had to go back for another xray on Friday and if it's all good she will have it on for about 5 weeks.

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About Me

Mother of two little fish and wife of one big fish, I live near the beach and love to find treasures in the local op shops and online. When I'm not sewing or decorating I'm gardening. Comments are most welcome, make yourself at home!